Important G.K. & Current Affairs Questions – 19th January 2019

Correct Answer – D. Ahmedabad Shopping Festival

Explanation: Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the Ahmedabad Shopping Festival-2019 at the Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad. From the street vendors to shopping malls and from Craftsmen to hotels-restaurant-linked businesses, across the Gujarat, have come here to showcase and promote their products.The festival is unique since it is being organized simultaneously with the Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

Correct Answer – A. Neelum Saran Gour

Explanation: Writer Neelum Saran Gour recently won The Hindu Prize 2018 in the fiction category for her novel Requiem in Raga Janki while author Manoranjan Byapari won the prize in the non-fiction category for Interrogating My Chandal Life. The winners were announced at the ongoing annual Hindu Lit for Life literary festival in Tamil Nadu’s capital Chennai.

Correct Answer – B. Ahmedabad

Explanation: Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled today the state of art, super-speciality public hospital – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Ahmedabad today. Built by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, the 78 meter high, 1500 bed hospital is equipped with all modern amenities, including an air ambulance. PM inspected the facilities at the hospital. He lauded the efforts of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation for setting up a world class hospital and said, “Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Ahmedabad hospital will prove to be a model for other government hospitals in the country.”

Correct Answer – A. Lithium

Explanation: Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Libcoin are in dialogue to form a world class consortium to initially build 1GWh lithium ion battery plant in India. Its capacity will be scaled up to 30GWh in due course. With this, India has finally taken steps into its energy security and clean energy commitment to the world. BHEL will be sending a team of senior officers for study of the facilities, R&D infrastructure and other techno-commercial issues soon. Based upon the evaluation and recommendations of the team, further process towards formation of Joint Venture will be carried forward.

Correct Answer – B. Gandhinagar

Explanation: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 9th edition of Vibrant Gujarat Summit at Mahatma Mandir Exhibition cum Convention Centre in Gandhinagar. 5 Heads of States from Uzbekistan, Rwanda, Denmark, Czech Republic and Malta along with the captains of industry from various sectors & over  30,000 delegates from India and abroad are taking part in the event.

The Prime Minister invited global business leaders and companies to come and invest in India where the business climate is more investor friendly now with the required infrastructure and facilities in place. PM said, “India is now ready for business. In the last four years, we have jumped 65 places of global ranking of ease of doing business. I have asked my team to work harder to ensure India is on the top 50 next years.”

Correct Answer – D. Myanmar

Explanation: The second edition of the India-Myanmar bilateral army exercise, IMBEX 2018-19, commenced at Chandimandir Military Station that houses the headquarters of the Western Command. The aim of this joint training programme, spread over six days, is to train the Myanmar delegation for participation in United Nations peace keeping operations under the UN flag.

Correct Answer – C. Maharashtra

Explanation: Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the 9th International Micro irrigation conference at Aurangabad in Maharashtra. The theme of the conference is  “Micro Irrigation and Modern Agriculture”. The three-day conference has exhibitions and sessions to create public awareness for the use of Micro Irrigation on large scale.

Correct Answer – B. 49

Explanation: India has increased its representation in the Times Higher Education (THE) Emerging Economies University Rankings, up to 49 universities from 42. That includes 25 in the top 200, a rise from 17 last year. The overall 2019 ranking comprises nearly 450 universities – expanded from 378 last year – from 43 countries, across four continents. The Indian Institute of Science (14th) is on top once again among the Indian institutes, followed by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (27th). However each slips back a place this year, largely due to increased competition.

Correct Answer – C. Manu Sawhney

Explanation: Sawhney, the former CEO of Singapore Sports Hub and Managing Director of ESPN Star Sports, will join the organization next month before formally taking over the reins from David Richardson in July following the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.

Correct Answer  – C. Eighth

Explanation: The Central Government today released the Eighth Edition of the Status Paper on the Government Debt, which provides a detailed analysis of the Overall Debt Position of the Government of India. The Central Government has been bringing-out an Annual Status Paper on Government Debt since 2010-11. This paper enhances transparency by providing a detailed account of debt operations during the year and an assessment of the health of the public debt portfolio based on internationally accepted debt performance indicators. The paper also covers details of fiscal deficit financing operations of the Central Government during the year 2017-18.